SCOTLAND – Waste management company, Biffa has announced plans to invest up to £6 million (US$7.10m) in the Motherwell facility, forming part of a network of facilities that will sort and bale materials collected via the deposit return scheme (DRS).
Biffa says the 40,000 tonnes per year capacity facility will count and bale DRS collected packaging which will then be sold for recycling.
Scotland is set to launch its DRS this August when a refundable £20 deposit will apply to all single-use PET plastic, aluminum, steel or glass drinks containers ranging in size from 50ml to three liters.
Gavin Money, Biffa’s DRS operations director, said: “We are working closely with Circularity Scotland and progressing well with the exciting and ambitious plans for the launch of a DRS in Scotland, which will see new recycling infrastructure developed across the country.”
“The Motherwell site will play a key role as a regional collection and counting hub, handling some of the billions of plastic, glass and metal drinks containers collected each year from across Scotland.”
Following the launch, the Motherwell site will play a key role in the regional collection and counting hub, employing multi-skilled operatives, HGV drivers, weighbridge operators and managers. In total, Biffa is expected to create around 500 jobs in Scotland as a result of the DRS.
Biffa is the logistics partner of scheme manager Circularity Scotland’s official DRS, and across the country will invest more than £80 million (US$94.67m) to develop the infrastructure needed.
Biffa said producers responsible for more than 95% of containers placed on the market in Scotland had registered to participate, while regulator the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will keep applications open until the scheme’s scheduled to start on 16 August.
Milton Keynes food and garden waste contract
Meanwhile, the company has also been awarded a contract for the transfer and treatment of Milton Keynes council’s food and garden waste at a value of £10.3 million.
The contract involves the transfer and treatment of food and garden waste resulting from the weekly kerbside collection service deposited by the council’s waste collection contractor.
Under the award, Biffa will start work on 1 April 2023 with the waste taken to in-vessel composting facilities.
As part of the contract, Biffa is also set to recover any outputs and dispose of any residues from the treatment. This shall include “the procurement of the end markets and onward haulage.
In addition, Biffa is to arrange for regular collections of the council’s food and garden waste from the authority waste transfer station in Old Wolverton.
The material is then to be delivered to the contractor’s “own waste treatment facility for treatment through a biological process to produce a compost, digestate or compost-like output.”
For all the latest packaging and printing industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
